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“Provoke him,” Lukka snarled, turning around to face the doorway. “By any means necessary.”
As Lukka left the room, Kyle finally lunged from his chair and snatched the very last bottle from the desk, wrenching off the cap with his teeth.
Suddenly, it had turned into arealcelebration after all.
38
Loren felt like a medieval prisoner, right before the executioner came calling. Anxiously, she hovered near the living room window, peering through the curtains at the empty road winding through the trees.
As the darkness grew, so did the tension weighing down the atmosphere.
Behind her, Sonia puttered in the kitchen. Every now and again Loren heard the thud of the cupboards being opened and shut, but neither party spoke a single word. She tried not to relive what the woman had said to her—keyword beingtried. Every time she shut her eyes, she’d seehisface, engrained right there behind her eyelids.
Had she done the right thing by pushing him to this point?
Or had she only offered herself up on a silver platter and heralded McGoven’s doom?
The sound of a knock on the door snapped her from the thought.From the window, she could see nothing out of the ordinary. Still, another stern knock rattled the door and Sonia rushed to answer it.
From behind her, Loren couldn’t see who waited on the other end, but Sonia stiffened, her entire body rigid.
“I thought he would come for her himself?” she croaked. “That’s what the tradition—”
“He was…” an oily voice replied, and Loren had no trouble at all conjuring a pair of soulless brown eyes to go along with it. “But, lo’ and behold, he decided to send me instead. Alpha business. You know the drill, eh Carlisle?”
Sonia didn’t answer, but when she stood back, finally revealing the man standing in the doorway, Loren wasn’t surprised.
Kyle’s blood-red hair clashed with an ebony sky and enhanced by the darkness, his eyes glowed, as sharp as a hawk’s. When he smiled, it was a cruel expression—all teeth, zero warmth.
“Loren Connors. Do I have permission to escort the female from your premises, Carlisle?” he asked Sonia. Something in his tone reminded Loren of a cat, impatiently toying with a mouse.
“I…” Sonia glanced over her shoulder, biting her lower lip—the only hint of unease. “He didn’t send word thatyouwere coming.”
“Didn’t he?” Kyle raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know that the Alpha had to answer to a subordinate, silly me. According to the laws of the challenge, she must be prepared to oversee tomorrow’s ceremony, no matter who comes for her. Or do you object?”
He smiled, but a fool could tell that he wasn’t joking. All his weight was balanced on the tips of his toes as if he would have liked nothing more than to barge into the cabin—whether Sonia “allowed” him to, or not.
“Lukka’s the only one who has any ‘business’ with her,” Sonia snapped. “I know tradition was never your forte, but I’m sure you know that much.”
“Well, Lukka wanted me to take her…sightseeing, first,” Kyle said, eyes glowing. “It’s time this pup learns her place, in the pack, of course. When the challenge is over, Lukka wants her to get a feel for her ‘new home.’”
Sonia didn’t respond to the concealed threat, though her face visibly paled. With her body angled toward the door, she blocked Kyle outphysically,but Loren sensed that—even in her own home—she couldn’t deny him for long. Authority was ingrained in the way he held himself, chin in the air.
Maybe not an Alpha, Loren thought, but he definitely wasn’t someone to be ignored.
“Fine.” Sonia shoved the door open wider. “But remember the code, Kyle. She’s an innocent—a witness, nothing more. It won’t do good for anyone to proclaim an early victory.”
“Have faith, Carlisle.” Kyle’s mirthless grin widened. “I’m sure our Alpha will prevail, especially against a rogue. Now—” He cut those gleaming eyes to Loren and jerked his head.Come.“It’s time for you to see the big, bad world of pack life for yourself.”
No longer was he smiling.His expression had fallen flat, mouth in a cold, hard line.
And, as she stepped out onto the porch, Loren couldn’t help feeling that she had jumped right from the proverbial frying pan...
And into an inferno.
As if reading her mind, Kyle chuckled and he headed down the front path, leaving her to follow—but his final words reached her in an ominous murmur.
“Carlisle turned into a bit of a hermit when her father died. As a witness to an official challenge, you belong in the heart of the pack. Right where Lukka can keep an eye on you.”
